Hi readers. Hope you like this. It's a bit sappy but I am branching out with other characters a little. Is anyone reading fanfic these days LOL. I still love it and hope someone enjoys it. Drama and angst coming soon. I have an update for Musings that I hope to get up this weekend. I haven't forgotten about Mothering either. I have a chapter almost ready to go.

As always I love reviews.

Happy Thursday.

Brenda

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Matt Mahoney 6 years after E becomes POTUS...

Daisy went back to DC to help her mom downsize and sell the house, and I am here in LA with the kids. All of them. Waffles is the oldest and he's an old dude now. Likes to sit next to me on the couch and watch old movies. We hope he'll be with us for a while but he's got arthritis and is getting a bit cranky. I don't blame him. He's gotta be about 12 or 13 years old now. He's tired.

Our son Truman is the opposite of tired. He is 4 and he can be noisy and messy but he's my little guy and he's just getting started on this life journey. We sure gave him an interesting heritage. Daisy is a gorgeous strong black woman and I am half Irish and half Pakistani and this little man has somehow managed to be a mix of all of this. Medium dark skin. My hair. Daisy's strong features and from my dad - green eyes. Genetics make me smile. We are teaching him about God and Allah and he's got friends of all different religions. I don't follow my Muslim faith very much - but as I get older I can appreciate why people cling to religion and traditions and customs. I dabble. Daisy doesn't go to church often. But we want the kids to have an idea of what's out there. Joanna has asked questions and we are open about her exploration. Anyhow - back to our son for a minute.

You know we had to name him Truman because that's where his mother and I met. Truman Grant Mahoney. Daisy says we should have another kiddo soon because we made such a beautiful boy and we parent pretty well. I want to think about it. Two kids is balanced.

Today though it is blatantly obvious that by saying that we parent pretty well- it's that she does. With Joanna anyhow.

I was awesome as an uncle to my pal Chloe- but she was a little girl. Joanna loved me too when she was 4. She's ten now and I am beyond screwed.

I called Jay and he told me he is in the same boat. Chloe isn't feeling it because she's 13, and neither is Jo. This dad thing is hard.

I am cooler now than I was way back in 2014. I write for TV now and LA is my jam. We have a sweet little set up. A nice house with a yard and a lemon tree

Joanna goes to a great school. She's got a lot of friends and she's a natural in the ocean. She swims and surfs and plays beach volleyball. At school she's been asked to try out for the school play and her artwork is beyond gorgeous.

Daisy and I have rules though and Daisy is serious about accountability. So now I am the bad guy for grounding the kid for the weekend. She was supposed to come home from school on Thursday and clean her room and help me with Truman before she went to her friends house. She "forgot" and she came in late and then she gave me attitude about it. I tried to talk to her about it but she was just rude and angry. It was beyond disrespectful so I grounded her for the weekend because that's what Daisy does when she gets like this. Daisy says Jo needs to be a strong woman but not a rude, disrespectful one. When she called us Thursday night she gave Joanna shit for trying to take advantage of me. Jo apologized to her. A little while later when I asked her to unload the dishwasher because I had to give Truman a bath I got the phrase I had been dreading

"You aren't my real dad you know. He was an actual hero. You are just a writer".

Her black eyes were flashing and she looked so much like Daisy it hurt.

I know I am not Joseph Garcia. I am not Kevin Park. I am not her biological dad. But in this family I am her dad. I love her like my own. I would die to protect that girl and she's in my will as Joanna Grant Mahoney. I adopted her three years ago when Daisy and I got married

I know tweens and teens do this. I know they say this and sometimes the dreaded "I hate you". I did that once when my parents wouldn't let me go on a school camping trip because I had a chest cold and was prone to asthma. But I got teased for being skinny and sickly and so nerdy.

At this camp out I was going to get a chance to show off some bad ass Boy Scout tricks. Starting a fire with next to nothing. Finding the constellations and how to make spider dogs with wieners. All chicken or beef because Muslims don't eat pork - but still, wicked spider dogs.

And my mom called my teacher and told him I was wheezing. I wanted to die.

I said the evil phrase because I was angry and hurt and I know that's why Joanna did.

But it hurts.

Raising kids is hard. I love Joanna and attitude isn't going to change it

But tonight I need a drink. I think I will call Jay tomorrow because it's like 1 am in DC right now. Ever since they had Nicola, Chloe has been a bit off. It's a lot what with having a step mom and a little sister and traveling to visit Abby who has also remarried and had a child, and the hormones. Teenagers are full of those. I remember Elizabeth coming to work and telling us she would rather yell at China and Russia because they weren't her crazy children. I get it now. Those kids are all grown up and last time we all chatted Elizabeth was full of great news about them so there's some hope for me.

I also talk to Nadine and her granddaughter Melody is about the same age as Joanna. She's an only child though and even she has had her moments. I guess if Nadine can admit to that then I am not the only one having issues.

We are all going to DC in a few months to celebrate Elizabeth McCords birthday. I think she makes an amazing President and I am glad I got to be there at the beginning. We didn't hit it off on the first day and we had our missteps but she inspired us all. She broke a lot of rules and she got things done. The rules and protocol she obliterated was always for a higher cause and it made me raise my game.

Maybe I'll go work on the remarks I am writing for that.

...

Ok so that was an interesting night. I went and worked on my speech and then put on some TV to mellow out and sleep too.

It was raining and blowing outside and it woke Joanna and Truman up. Both kids came to find me and Tru just snuggled in and went back to sleep. He smelled like the watermelon shampoo we used to wash his hair.

Joanna was scared but she was trying to play it cool. She said she was just checking on her brother and on me - making sure we were OK.

I played it cool too. Til the lightning made the two of us jump. I said "Shit" and Jo laughed. She said she was gonna tell her mom and I said "please don't - Daisy hates cussing around the kids".

The girl gave me a look and smiled. She offered "I know". Then she apologized. "You aren't my biological dad but you are pretty awesome most of the time. I'm sorry I was such a brat "

I made room on my side of the bed and she snuggled in. "I get mad and I say stuff. Then I feel bad about the stuff I say. I want to be a nice kid. I think I am most of the time but then I get so angry and I say this stuff that.." she ducks her head and I can hear her crying so I give her a squeeze. I feel bad that she's hurting but growing up is hard work. Kids have it rough. We were all kids and it hurts. Sometimes there is ice cream and Santa Claus but a lot of it is so awkward.

I finish her thought " You say stuff that feels good for like two seconds and then you feel worse because it was an impulse and it isn't really true. You just want to hurt someone because you are angry".

I feel her head nodding against my ribs.

"Joanna it's good that we talked about this. I can forgive you if you can forgive yourself ". Another nod and some shaking and then calm. Then a small request "will you help me write my essay about the President this weekend? " I chuckled a little and kissed her head. "I can do that Joanna. Remember - we all helped her run - you were at her victory party?" Your mom and I met because we worked for her when she was Secretary of State."

"Oh yeah. It was a long time ago. I was 3 or 4 right?" I confirm. She sighs. " She was the nice lady with the glasses and she had cookies in her desk and she let me and Chloe watch a movie and go bowling right? "

"She did" she loved all of us. She still does. We just haven't seen her in a long time. We are going back soon though" I say gently

After a minute a muffled " I love you Dad" and as she falls asleep I can feel the tears on my cheeks as I hold my son in one arm and my daughter in the other and realize that this is a moment that is fleeting.

In a few years these two will be in college and ready to fly on their own.

I am going to surprise my wife and say we'll go for a third.

Because why not? I love the two we have so I can step out of my comfort zone. Besides- I love being a dad. It's a great way to keep me on my toes. And I just proved to myself that I can be a decent dad sometimes.

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